As reported by http://masscare.org/
Massachusetts voters have, for the second straight election, overwhelmingly affirmed their support for single payer health reform by turning in majority ‘Yes’ votes in all fourteen districts where local single payer ballot questions appeared yesterday.
The ballots spanned 80 different cities and towns in a state of 351 municipalities, winning in every city and town reporting results so far except two.
Five of the districts backing single payer reform yesterday voted for Scott Brown in last year’s special senate election, which was largely seen as a referendum on national health reform. This shows that the goal of improved and expanded Medicare for All is supported by a diverse range of communities across the state.
It is also striking that in a year of political change, and in a year of drawn-out economic suffering, residents recognize that single payer health reform offers the promise of a more just and humanitarian health care system. Medicare for all would actually cost us less as a society and lift the burden of sky-rocketing health costs from thousands of households, employers, and taxpayers.
Similar local referendum questions passed overwhelmingly in ten representative districts in 2008, and we look forward to building this momentum behind the state’s single payer bill even further this coming legislative session, which begins in January 2011.
Mass-Care wants to extend congratulations to all of the hard-working volunteers who collected signatures to put these questions on the ballot, got the word out to their local media, worked on public education with community organizations in their districts, and spoke one-on-one with residents of the district on the streets, holding signs, and standing outside of polling places.
Mass-Care also wants to extend its congratulations to the Vermont single payer movement. Yesterday Peter Shumlin was elected Governor of Vermont running on a single payer platform. This is incredibly exciting as the Vermont legislature recently commissioned Dr. William Hsiao, the designer of Taiwan’s single payer health care system, to draft an implementation plan and impact study of a single payer plan for Vermont. We plan to support the single payer movement in Vermont and other states in any way we can, even as we build towards a majority in the Massachusetts legislature.
Not every precinct has yet reported results to the state, but we include partial results in a table below. Official results for every district will be posted on the Boston Globe web-site and on masscare.org when they become available.
Here is the current tally from the Boston Globe website.
http://www.boston.com/news/special/politics/2010/ballot_questions/results/
Single-payer health insurance
| Summary: Should the state representative from this district be instructed to support legislation establishing health care as a human right regardless of age, state of health, or employment status, by creating a single payer health insurance system like Medicare that is comprehensive, cost effective, and publicly provided to all residents of Massachusetts? | |||
2nd Berkshire State House |
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| City or town | Precincts reporting |
No |  Yes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ashfield | 1 of 1 | 163 | 652 |
| Becket | 0 of 1 | 0 | 0 |
| Bernardston | 1 of 1 | 265 | 504 |
| Buckland | 1 of 1 | 199 | 506 |
| Cheshire | 1 of 1 | 389 | 655 |
| Colrain | 1 of 1 | 179 | 418 |
| Cummington | 1 of 1 | 97 | 289 |
| Dalton | 0 of 2 | 0 | 0 |
| Hancock | 1 of 1 | 95 | 161 |
| Hinsdale | 1 of 1 | 209 | 431 |
| Lanesborough | 1 of 1 | 302 | 646 |
| Leyden | 1 of 1 | 80 | 243 |
| Middlefield | 1 of 1 | 81 | 142 |
| New Ashford | 1 of 1 | 33 | 68 |
| Northfield | 1 of 1 | 377 | 745 |
| Peru | 1 of 1 | 84 | 177 |
| Pittsfield | 1 of 1 | 276 | 627 |
| Plainfield | 1 of 1 | 65 | 222 |
| Richmond | 1 of 1 | 167 | 506 |
| Shelburne | 1 of 1 | 187 | 586 |
| Washington | 1 of 1 | 174 | 173 |
| Windsor | 1 of 1 | 108 | 236 |
| Total | 20 of 23 | 3,530 | 7,987 |
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Updated 10:05 AM
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4th Berkshire State House |
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| City or town | Precincts reporting |
No | Yes |
| Alford | 1 of 1 | 50 | 153 |
| Blandford | 1 of 1 | 236 | 244 |
| Chester | 1 of 1 | 174 | 275 |
| Egremont | 1 of 1 | 124 | 448 |
| Great Barrington | 4 of 4 | 469 | 1,794 |
| Lee | 6 of 6 | 508 | 1,282 |
| Lenox | 0 of 1 | 0 | 0 |
| Monterey | 1 of 1 | 70 | 306 |
| Mount Washington | 1 of 1 | 14 | 55 |
| New Marlborough | 1 of 1 | 157 | 397 |
| Otis | 1 of 1 | 182 | 339 |
| Pittsfield | 1 of 1 | 250 | 539 |
| Sandisfield | 1 of 1 | 84 | 208 |
| Sheffield | 1 of 1 | 326 | 785 |
| Stockbridge | 1 of 1 | 169 | 618 |
| Tolland | 1 of 1 | 95 | 106 |
| Tyringham | 1 of 1 | 52 | 152 |
| West Stockbridge | 1 of 1 | 118 | 444 |
| Total | 25 of 26 | 3,078 | 8,145 |
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Updated 10:05 AM
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1st Franklin State House |
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| City or town | Precincts reporting |
No | Yes |
| Belchertown | 2 of 2 | 795 | 1,466 |
| Chesterfield | 1 of 1 | 147 | 340 |
| Conway | 1 of 1 | 232 | 667 |
| Deerfield | 1 of 1 | 633 | 1,405 |
| Goshen | 1 of 1 | 123 | 305 |
| Huntington | 1 of 1 | 307 | 478 |
| Leverett | 1 of 1 | 167 | 761 |
| Montague | 6 of 6 | 740 | 2,042 |
| New Salem | 1 of 1 | 136 | 286 |
| Pelham | 1 of 1 | 102 | 536 |
| Shutesbury | 1 of 1 | 142 | 723 |
| Sunderland | 1 of 1 | 336 | 893 |
| Wendell | 1 of 1 | 60 | 345 |
| Whately | 1 of 1 | 238 | 494 |
| Williamsburg | 1 of 1 | 292 | 842 |
| Worthington | 1 of 1 | 134 | 403 |
| Total | 22 of 22 | 4,584 | 11,986 |
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Updated 10:05 AM
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8th Hampden State House |
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| City or town | Precincts reporting |
No | Yes |
| Chicopee | 18 of 18 | 4,056 | 5,845 |
| Total | 18 of 18 | 4,056 | 5,845 |
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Updated 10:05 AM
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4th Middlesex State House |
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| City or town | Precincts reporting |
No | Yes |
| Berlin | 1 of 1 | 571 | 712 |
| Marlborough | 14 of 14 | 5,026 | 5,997 |
| Southborough | 1 of 1 | 735 | 708 |
| Total | 16 of 16 | 6,332 | 7,417 |
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Updated 10:05 AM
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13th Middlesex State House |
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| City or town | Precincts reporting |
No | Yes |
| Lincoln | 3 of 3 | 417 | 924 |
| Sudbury | 5 of 5 | 3,436 | 3,994 |
| Wayland | 4 of 4 | 2,329 | 3,308 |
| Total | 12 of 12 | 6,182 | 8,226 |
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Updated 10:05 AM
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14th Middlesex State House |
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| City or town | Precincts reporting |
No | Yes |
| Acton | 3 of 3 | 2,064 | 6,469 |
| Carlisle | 0 of 1 | 0 | 0 |
| Chelmsford | 2 of 2 | 1,443 | 1,551 |
| Concord | 5 of 5 | 2,954 | 4,851 |
| Total | 10 of 11 | 6,461 | 12,871 |
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Updated 10:05 AM
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29th Middlesex State House |
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| City or town | Precincts reporting |
No | Yes |
| Cambridge | 3 of 3 | 859 | 2,972 |
| Watertown | 11 of 11 | 3,032 | 6,212 |
| Total | 14 of 14 | 3,891 | 9,184 |
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Updated 10:05 AM
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5th Norfolk State House |
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| City or town | Precincts reporting |
No | Yes |
| Braintree | 12 of 12 | 6,176 | 6,629 |
| Holbrook | 1 of 1 | 369 | 494 |
| Randolph | 1 of 1 | 365 | 695 |
| Total | 14 of 14 | 6,910 | 7,818 |
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Updated 10:05 AM
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11th Norfork State House |
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| City or town | Precincts reporting |
No | Yes |
| Dedham | 7 of 7 | 3,871 | 4,905 |
| Walpole | 1 of 1 | 0 | 0 |
| Westwood | 4 of 4 | 3,064 | 3,000 |
| Total | 12 of 12 | 6,935 | 7,905 |
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Updated 10:05 AM
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12th Norfolk State House |
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| City or town | Precincts reporting |
No | Yes |
| Norwood | 0 of 9 | 0 | 0 |
| Walpole | 1 of 4 | 376 | 520 |
| Total | 1 of 13 | 376 | 520 |
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Updated 10:05 AM
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11th Suffolk State House |
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| City or town | Precincts reporting |
No | Yes |
| Boston | 0 of 17 | 0 | 0 |
| Total | 0 of 17 | 0 | 0 |
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Updated 10:05 AM
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15th Suffolk State House |
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| City or town | Precincts reporting |
No | Yes |
| Boston | 0 of 19 | 0 | 0 |
| Brookline | 1 of 1 | 254 | 783 |
| Total | 1 of 20 | 254 | 783 |
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Updated 10:05 AM
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13th Worcester State House |
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| City or town | Precincts reporting |
No | Yes |
| Paxton | 1 of 1 | 950 | 861 |
| Worcester | 10 of 10 | 4,248 | 6,246 |
| Total | 11 of 11 | 5,198 | 7,107 |
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Updated 10:05 AM
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Deval Patrick Wins, Democrats Win All 10 House Seats in Massachusetts, Republicans React.
By John M. Guilfoil
November 3, 2010
Published by Blast Magazine.
It my not reflect the national outlook, but it seems like every Democrat on every ballot in Massachusetts won Tuesday night.
Governor Deval Patrick won a second term against Republican Charlie Baker and independent Tim Cahill and Green Rainbow Party candidate Jill Stein.
Incumbent Democrats John Olver, Richard Neal, Jim McGovern, Ed Markey, Niki Tsongas, and Stephen Lynch easily won reelection.
Mike Capuano was unopposed.
Thirty-year veteran Barney Frank held off Sean Bielat.
Incumbent John Tierney defeated the Tea Party-endorsed Republican Bill Hudak.
In the closest race, Norfolk District Attorney Bill Keating defeated former Wareham Police Sergeant Jeff Perry, who never shook off a scandal from the 90s involving an officer under his command molesting a teenage girl. Keating won the seat vacated by the retiring William Delahunt of Quincy.
“Tonight’s clean sweep underscores that despite massive outside spending and prevailing political winds, Massachusetts Democrats win when they take nothing for granted, fight hard, and stand proud of the people and values they represent,” said US Senator John Kerry, who is not up for election for another four years. “Deval Patrick, Tim Murray, Barney Frank, Bill Keating, and many, many others reminded Massachusetts tonight that some things really are worth fighting for, and that’s a big big lesson not just for Democrats but for everyone, everywhere.”
Massachusetts Republican Party Chairman Jennifer Nassour released the following statement Tuesday evening:
“Tonight the Massachusetts Republican Party made significant gains in the Legislature. Changing the color of Massachusetts to purple won’t happen overnight. The important fact is that entrenched incumbents, who often fly beneath the radar, had to stand up to public scrutiny this election cycle. I’m proud of our GOP candidates who worked hard and focused on important issues like creating jobs, lowering taxes, and reducing government spending.”
In other races, Attorney General Martha Coakley and Secretary of State Bill Galvin, both Democrats, handily won reelection.
In the state treasurer race vacated by Tim Cahill, who ran as an independent for governor, Steve Grossman defeated Karen Polito, who was caught in a late scandal involving Red Sox license plates.
In two other senate races, Democrat Richard Blumenthal defeated former wrestling executive Linda McMahon in Connecticut, and Democrat Christopher Coons defeated Christine O’Donnell in Delaware.
But Republicans are projected to take over the House as many other national races are tallied.
Beaver County Blue: Voice of the 17th CD of Progressive Democrats of America 